After Tomorrow
by spunkiesteffie
Summary: After loosing all her memories at 16, Hailey is hurled into the world she was kept secret from. Slowly, she must learn what fate has in store her while fighting to stay alive, but at what cost?
1. Christmas Eve

The smell of smoke and blood burned the man's nostrils as he walked through the remains of the town he once knew. The houses that once stood tall and beautifully covered in snow and lights around this village now laid in smoldering ruins around him. Moans and cries could be heard in the distance from those who survived this brutal attack. As the man neared what could only be the center of the village he saw someone in dark robes quickly moving towards him.

"Richard, I am so glad you got here in one piece. Did you encounter any problems making your way here?" The man's eyes kept darting around as he stood in front of Richard waiting for a response.

"No, Wilfred. The woods were clear as I came. What is the situation?" Richard asked studying Wilfred. Wilfred was a smaller man than him. His pale features tarnished with ash from the fires. There were scrapes and cuts across his hands and face. The man looked shaken to his core. They began to quickly walking through the streets. The sun was finally rising over the horizon, and Richard's heart began to fall. The destruction of the village looked so much worse in the light of day.

Wilfred took a deep breath and held it for a few moments. After a few seconds he finally released it. "We are still searching for survivors. We were betrayed Richard. The attack started from within the town."

Silently the men entered a building that was badly damaged, but still standing. People were rushing all around the inside of the building. Some helping those who were injured, others were trying to see if their loved ones where there and alive. The chaos in this building unsettled Richard. He could tell from all he had seen since he had arrived that this attack was planned. How could their own betray them? Richard continued to follow Wilfred down a long narrow hall filled with people till they reached the end. A young man about eighteen with dark hair and green eyes stood silently against a wall staring at a closed door. Richard recognized the boy instantly. It was his son, Thomas. Some relief washed over Richard now knowing his son was alive. He could see there was some blood oozing down the side of Thomas's face from an injury near his hairline. There were bruises, and some cuts across parts of his sons' body, but nothing life threatening.

As Richard and Wilfred reach the spot where Thomas stood, the door he had been staring at opened. A doctor had exited the room and approached Thomas. Richard watched his son stand up straight and take a few steps towards the doctor. "How is she?"

"It was touch and go, but she should pull through . There were many injuries, some very grave. We waited till the anesthetic wore off to see if she had acquired any brain injuries from the head trauma she suffered." The doctor hesitated for a moment looking at Richard before he continued, "I am sorry. She has lost all memory. The scans didn't show the trauma was severe enough to cause this type of amnesia, but there is always the chance."

"She will regain her memories, though. This is only temporary, right?" Thomas asked as panic crossed his face.

"I don't know. Thomas, you have to think of all she has gone through, and what she must've gone through last night. Her mind may have just shut down. I don't think she will regain her memories any time soon." The doctor said softly. "She is asleep now, but you are welcome to go in and see her if you would like."

Silently they entered the room. Richard watched his son move quickly to the bedside of the girl who was sleeping. He knelled next to her. Absentmindedly he brushed some of the young girl's red hair from her face. Richard could see tears silently falling down Thomas face as he took the girls hand and held it to his mouth. He was whispering into her limp hand as they stood around. Richard finally looked at the girl. His heart sank as his eyes rested on the poor girl. There was bruising and small cuts down the left side of her face. Her arms had scraps, cuts, and even some burns.

"What happened to her Thomas?" Richard whispered to his son.

"We were just leaving the church from Christmas Eve mass. The attack happened so fast we had no time to think, just act. After a few minutes of fighting an order was called out to us to retreat to a different location. We were told under no circumstances are we to disobey, or leave the location. Not long after we saw an explosion come from the direction of her home. We couldn't make contact with Greg. After a few minutes she suddenly took off running. I had no clue where she was going till it was too late. He was at her house dad. Greg was laying there dead just feet from where I found her." Thomas said through his tears.

"Who was there Thomas?" Richard asked, though he knew the answer.

"Shane. He survived the fight. I saw several of his men helping him escape the house as I came up on it." Thomas stated.

Richard turned to leave the room, but before he could Wilfred stopped him. "Richard, with Greg dead, you are now the head Councilmen of the village. The rest of the council is giving you till noon to decide what we are to do moving forward. With all the new developments, I know this cannot be easy, but we have no choice. For what it is worth, I am sorry"

Several hours had passed as Richard paced the Council Chamber. Several of the council men had come into the chambers once they had heard to news to offer their advice. Some felt he should send the girl to have some men try and force her to remember, others felt she need to be retrained from scratch. Richard wasn't sure what was the best choice was. Though she looked broken, in all the sixteen years Richard had known this girl, this was the first time she looked peaceful. She carried a burden on her shoulders most could not begin to understand. _Why her?_ Richard thought. _How can I help her?_

Richard heard the door open quietly in the room. He turned to see Wilfred walking to him. "It is almost noon. Have you made a decision?"

At that moment Richard felt calmness wash over him. "Yes. Please ask Carl to come see me. I have a mission I need for him to do."

"I will Richard, but what about the girl?" Wilfred asked confused.

Richard smiled slightly, "It has to do with her, now please do as I have asked."

"Richard, I am sure there is another way. There is no need…"

"Wilfred," Richard sternly interrupted "I have made my decision. I am now the one in charge, so I ask you again to go get Carl and do not breathe a word of this to anyone else. Do I make myself clear?"

He watched as Wilfred jumped slightly in his spot, then quickly turns and leaves the room. The plan has now been set in motion. Richard knew why Wilfred was so shocked with his choice of Carl. Carl was mainly sent on missions to assassinate someone. This time was different though. He would allow the people to believe he ordered for her death, but he will have Carl escape the village with her. Take her somewhere where no one could find her. Keep her safe, and allow her to have a normal life. That is until she regains her memories. There were traitors amongst them, though they did not know who. If she stayed here, she was surely to die. At least this way she had a chance at a normal life. He could only hope the plan worked. He would not know. Once Carl leaves the village with her, they were to have no contact. That was the only way to keep her location secret. Richard hung his head. This would be the difficult part. Not knowing if she would remain safe, but Carl would do everything in his power to protect her. He just had to have faith this would work, and then weather all the anger that was getting ready to come his way.


	2. New Life

Christmas lights sparkled along the high ceiling of the large banquet hall Hailey stood in. Soft idle chatter filled the room. Hailey felt alone, out of place as she stood silently watching. She hated events like this. Formal occasions were not the social gatherings she liked. In fact, she really didn't like any social gathering. Hailey preferred to be alone on Christmas Eve. This was not how she wanted to spend it, but her Uncle Carl had requested her presence. In years past she always found an excuse not to attend, but this year he made sure she couldn't.

Quietly, Hailey made her way to an empty table with name places on it. She glanced over the cards till she found one with her name. Quickly she placed herself in the chair, hoping everyone would ignore her. That might be difficult. Though the room was filled with people talking among themselves, Hailey could feel people watching her. It didn't make her uncomfortable, just irritated. Looking at the table, Hailey began to play with the deep red table cloth. After a few second she heard someone walking in her direction. Instinctively, she focused on the sounds of the footsteps as they grew closer. She could tell by the emphasis of the step it was a man, but the rhythm gave it a feminine impression. Hailey smiled to herself as she realized who it was, though she made no movement to show she even noticed he was coming. The chair next to her pulled out and the man sat down. Hailey raised her eyes slowly, showing him a soft smile. It was her close friend, Hank. Hank was a handsome man, with short blonde hair he always kept combed into spikes. His blue eyes came to a rest on Hailey as she sat watching him. She couldn't withhold her giggle as she became aware he chose to wear a pink sequenced vest with his black tuxedo.

"Trying to blend in?" Hank asked with a chuckle.

"Trying, is it working?" Hailey asked as she sat as straight and tall as she could.

"Not really, but it is hard when you are wearing a powder blue dress hugging you in all the right places, your hair is in curls, and you are wearing make-up all of which is not your normal and only makes you more sexy than you already are. All the men are talking about how great you look tonight. "

"Well I'm glad they think so. I can't wait to get out of this mess and go for a run. Then I really need to head into the shop. I just want to work on that device. I am certain if I get the right algorithm we can get it to work properly." Hailey stated excitedly as Hank began to look around. "Who are you looking for?"

"Huh?" Hank stared at Hailey with a blank look for a moment before taking a deep breath, "Okay, Jim in Human Resources and I have been flirting. I have been keeping an eye out for him tonight. Hoping to get lucky, you know? Anyway, I haven't seen him tonight. Started to worry he didn't want to take me up on the offer."

Hailey began to laugh. "Seriously? You really think he would refuse you? Ok, first, Hank this is you we are talking about. Secondly, who could refuse you with that sparkly pink vest? Last but not least, he has been by the bar for the past hour. How have you not seen him?"

Hank spun in his chair staring in the direction of the bar. Silently he pointed and smiled. After a few seconds he looked back to Hailey. "What about you? Why didn't you bring that "guy" you have been dating? Sure he would've been the life of the party."

"We didn't work out. We decided about a week ago it was best for us to part ways." Hailey said quietly with a forced grin. It was not the truth but she was not going to go into details of what had truly occurred. In time she may be able to talk about it, but at this time, she just wanted to keep it locked away.

Hank stared at her for a few more minutes. Hailey began to fidget slightly with her dress before taking a deep breath. "Go, I bet Jim is starting to wonder if you stood him up." She breathed out with a smile.

After a moment, Hank gave her a quick hug, and then turned to leave without saying another word. She had to give him credit. He was aware there was much more to it, but he left her alone. Hank was the one person she had been close with for as long as she could remember. She met him not long after the accident that killed her parents and caused her to lose her memories. _Damn it has been 12 years to the day_ Hailey thought. Hailey had always kept people arm's length away or further, but Hank was different. He had always found ways to get a little closer, though he would acknowledge she still kept everything guarded. She always felt she had to. Hailey sighed. It was hard for her. She wanted to let people close, but she couldn't. She just felt safe that way. If they don't get close, they could not hurt her.

After sitting silently at the table for a little over an hour, Hailey rose from her seat. She wanted to leave. She had already been at this banquet for several hours. She didn't care she had not eaten. She can handle that when she gets home if she was truly hungry. Hailey began to walk to the door when there was a massive explosion from the far wall where she had been sitting. The shock wave was strong enough it threw her back over a table. Hailey lay on the ground stunned for a moment. Screams could be heard all around her. Dizzily she looked around as she began to set up. A large portion of the far wall was gone. There were people; at least she thought was people, coming through the opening. Suddenly gun shots could be heard coming from around her. Quickly she crawled to hide under some debris. Hailey stared around the now dark room as fires burned from certain spots, people trying to run, but some being gunned down in the process. Hailey looked more closely at what was attacking them. They looked human, but there was someone wrong with them. The way they moved. It was unnatural. As if their body fought against what the brain was ordering it to do. Their skin looked waxy, as if it were fake. Their eyes were wide but blank, as if they were lifeless. As Hailey stared she began to feel the urge to fight, as if she knew who or what these people and how to stop them. Before she was able to do anything else one of the creatures turned. Once their eyes met a searing pain, like an explosion occurred in Hailey's head. Everything went black, Hailey couldn't move, couldn't react; all she was aware of was the pain that was making her wish for death.

While the pain continued images began to flash in Hailey's mind. She was running through a dark damp cave carrying a book. A man with graying hair was handing her a closed envelope in a great hall. A boy about 18, handsome with a warm smile and dark spiky hair standing in front of her as he handed her something. Slowly the vision shifted. She was looking down at all the blood on her dress, hands, and a dagger she held. Her vision shifted to the man in his late thirties lying on the ground. Blood was flowing profusely from multiple stab wounds. Weakly he raised his hand and gently touched her face. His mouth moved as if saying something to her as tears fell from his eyes, then silently his hand dropped to the ground.

As suddenly as the pain and vision began, they ended. Hailey was crumpled on her knees into the fetal position crying hysterically. She felt physically sick. She had no clue what she had seen but it all felt so real, as if she had lived those moments. She tried to gather herself. This building was under attack, and she had no clue if her Uncle Carl or Hank were alive. _Get up! You have to get up!_ Hailey thought as she tried to slow her sobbing. As she began to pick herself up from the floor she heard a gun cock by her head.


End file.
